News flash: Hiring managers are human.
Just like all people, they’re prone to misjudgment because of internal biases and being influenced by emotions and past experiences. Also, there is an innate human tendency to avoid mistakes instead of achieving success.
Because of this hard-wiring, deep rooted in survival instincts and human psychology, it’s impossible to be objective and accurate in our perceptions. This pertains to every aspect of our life and becomes heightened when we’re dealing with other people.
Second news flash: The biggest psychological issue we have as humans is dealing with other human beings, not our cat or our stuff.
Key influences to consider
Consider this:
- We have a positive bias towards people who are similar to us.
- We have a negative bias towards people who are different than us, though we often need someone very different in a job candidate.
- If we find a quality we like in a person, we unconsciously tend to assign a positive bias to attributes we know nothing about, a phenomenon called “the halo effect.” We do the opposite when we don’t like a quality.
- We filter our present through our past and make too many unconscious assumptions as a result. For example, if I had a “negative experience” with a person who worked at ABC company in the past, a candidate who currently works at ABC company is starting off negatively with me, if only subconsciously.
Since dealing with other human beings is the biggest issue of human psychology, how can it not be a key influencer in hiring? Every issue we have is triggered when meeting another person.
continue reading… TLNT
by Brad Wolff